Somewhere in the hearts and minds of most Mean Machine baseball players ages 16 and under, there is a sandlot where a game is always going.
“The whole core of the team — eight, nine players — have played together since Little League,” head coach Pete Kelly said. “I feel like the boys are just hitting the tip of their potential. There’s so much more to go, and I’m trying to get every single one of them to the next level.”
If Kelly understands this, scouts from seven major league baseball teams do as well after seeing the Cottonwood club win five of six games and the championship of the Southwest Scout Invitational over Labor Day weekend.
“This was the best the boys have played together since we’ve been together,” Kelly said of the performance of his third-year club. “We hit the ball really well and showed great leadership and teamwork. The pitching was phenomenal.”
Over their first four tournament games, Kelly’s hitters had rolled up 25 runs while allowing just 12. To that point, no other team in the tournament had scored more than 19 runs, and less than half of the 14 teams — including clubs from Stanford, Calif. and El Paso, Texas — allowed fewer runs.
That had to impress representatives of the Cleveland Indians, Detroit Tigers, Los Angeles Dodgers, Milwaukee Brewers, Pittsburgh Pirates, San Francisco Giants and Toronto Blue Jays in attendance — if the play of six Mingus Union High School students hadn’t already.
For the full story and scores, please see the Wednesday, Oct. 7, issue of the Cottonwood Journal Extra.
